Flora-Fauna

Cota palaestina Kotschy

(Ins. Cypern: 240; 1865 – Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 2, Pl. CCXXX nº 3; 1969)

• Life-form & habit: Annual or short-lived perennial herb, 15–40 cm tall, strongly aromatic. Stems erect to ascending, slender, branched from the base, finely striate, and sparsely pubescent.

• Leaves: Alternate, 2–3 pinnatisect, segments filiform to narrowly linear, 1–2 mm wide, giving the plant a finely divided, feathery appearance. Surfaces green to grey-green, glandular-dotted, and softly pubescent.

• Inflorescence & flowers: Solitary capitula on long peduncles. Involucre hemispherical, 6–10 mm across; phyllaries imbricate, with broad scarious margins. Ray florets white, 10–20 in number, female; disc florets yellow, tubular, hermaphrodite. Receptacle conical, paleaceous.

• Fruit: Achenes oblong, slightly compressed, 1.5–2 mm long, 5-ribbed, glabrous, without a pappus.

• Phenology: Flowers from March to June; fruits mature from May to July.

• Habitat & elevation: Dry, open slopes, stony fallow fields, and steppe margins, often on calcareous soils, from 400 to 1 800 m. Prefers sunny, xeric habitats.

• Lebanese distribution: Recorded by Mouterde from the Beqaa Valley, Barouk, and Dahr el-Baïdar; frequent in montane dry grasslands and disturbed rocky pastures.

• Native to: Cyprus, East Aegean Is., Iraq, Kriti, Lebanon-Syria, Palestine, Türkiye (POWO).

• Introduced into: Germany, Morocco (POWO).

• ⚠️ Taxonomic note: Cota palaestina (formerly placed under Anthemis) is a Levantine–Anatolian species characterised by its filiform leaf segments, strongly aromatic foliage, and white-rayed, yellow-disked heads. It differs from Cota tinctoria by its smaller capitula, thinner stems, and more finely dissected leaves. In Lebanon, it represents a typical element of dry montane Mediterranean grasslands, often co-occurring with Centaurea iberica, Trifolium stellatum, and Alyssum maritimum.